Wife: Cops acted too quickly in shooting

The wife of a Clifton Park man who was shot by State Police Tuesday night thinks troopers could have been able to resolve the situation without shooting the man.

My colleague Paul Nelson reports:

She acknowledged police work is inherently dangerous and that cops are often forced to make split-second life or death decisions. Still, she stressed that the violent confrontation could have ended peacefully.

“They yelled, ‘Put the gun down, put the gun down.’ There were two shots and then my husband said, ‘OK, OK,” she said. “I believe the altercation could have been avoided if they came in a non-threatening way, he would have handed over the gun.”

Capt. Timothy Munro with the State Police BCI, the plainclothes detective branch of the agency, said Wednesday that the troopers tried to de-escalate a fast-moving, potentially dangerous situation in a densely populated residential area. He declined to elaborate and would not disclose how many shots were fired or how many times Douglas Stewart was hit, saying those details would be make public in coming days.

Tonya Stewart suggested the troopers could have tried to negotiated with her husband or perhaps had a psychologist on standby to talk with him, especially because he doesn’t have a criminal record and is a “professional man who has always provided very well for his family.”